Town to seek fitness grant

The Town of Fort Frances is applying to the Ministry of Tourism and Recreation for a grant to train Memorial Sports Centre staff in areas such as yoga, tai chi, and related fitness programs for older adults.
“Given our current demographics and past experience, these are high-growth program areas where we continue to have problems in recruiting qualified instructors,” Community Services manager George Bell said in report at Monday night’s council meeting.
“As a result, we fell the solution would be to train existing staff in these program areas,” he added. “The funding is for 80 percent of the costs, with the remained being funded from our operating budget.”
Council authorized Clerk Glenn Treftlin to sign a grant application for the amount of $8,880 and forward it to the ministry’s “Community in Action.”
Also Monday night, council authorized the purchase and implementation of an Advanced Tracker Software System at a cost of about $12,000.
This software will increase efficiency in tracking labour costs and job costing, allow for the implementation of a work order system, and track employee attendance and time more efficiently, among other things.
In other business Monday night, council:
•agreed to a recommendation from the Administration and Finance executive committee to refer a funding request from Northwestern Ontario Crime Stoppers to replace playground equipment at local parks to the 2005 budget process for consideration;
•approved a request from the Valley Adult Learning Association for access to the warning track around VanJura Stadium for the “Laps for Literacy” fundraiser run this Saturday;
•referred the town’s memberships and grants policy to the Administration and Finance executive committee for review (Mayor Dan Onichuk noted it currently states the deadline for groups to apply for grants from the town is Aug. 15, but this date fell far before the town’s first public budget meeting and this should be changed to 30 days after the first public budget meeting);
•referred a policy for contractors and property owners working within the town’s right-of-way back to the Operations and Facilities executive committee for further consideration;
•agreed to combine the Street Light Inspections Committee and Traffic Safety Committee, and include the former committee’s mandate into that of the latter’s (the new committee will be called the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee);
•authorized the preparation of a bylaw for an encroachment agreement between the town and the owner of the building situated at 432 Scott St. to recognize a 0.04-m encroachment into the road allowance of Scott Street at the southeast corner of the building; and
•directed a request from resident John Coberg regarding the creation of parking space on Victoria Avenue at the Fort Frances Clinic (a former bus stop) be forwarded to the Operations and Facilities executive committee for a recommendation.